Tuesday, November 11, 2014

{Review} eShakti Dress

Hello hello! Long time no outfit post! I'm not counting the Dapper Day outfit because of course I would take pictures whilst on vacation! I did get off by butt and took actually outfit photos on a normal day because I got the lovely opportunity to review a dress from eShakti. Many of you have probably heard of eShakti from the many blogger reviews around the community. It is a website that sells customizable clothing. They have tons of dresses and skirts in retro styles, which definitely attracts me. They also have tops and jackets. They do have regular sizes and the base design where you pay $7.50 for customizing, which I find pretty affordable. I chose the Retro embellished poplin shirtdress. I had it customized to my measurements and I also changed the sleeve length to 3/4 sleeve. Other options were to change the skirt length and to remove the pockets or embroidery.

Pockets

The thing I love most about eShakti are the side-seam pockets. They are perfect. I am much less likely to lose my phone when I have pockets. So, I would never choose the remove pockets option. Ever.

Sleeves

I changed the sleeve length because I prefer 3/4 sleeves the best and most dresses I find don't come in that length. I found that I didn't enjoy the look of the sleeve being so loose fitting didn't seem to fit the style of the dress, so I folded it up and folded it up until it looked good, which ended up being short-length. I regretted not getting a full length sleeve because I could have folded that up to 3/4 sleeve length. It would have been much better if there were actual pictures of each type of sleeve length instead of illustrations. I understand not making completely different sleeves every time they make a new dress, but at least show different sleeve types in different fabrics. It would definitely help the decision making process.

Embroidery

The design is lovely and I like the colors. The embroidery isn't evenly stitched around the entire skirt. Some parts are stitched closer together than others. The closer stitches are definitely better looking. Overall, further away it looks good. The chevron stripes also don't match up on the side seams. They kind of match up on the top, but closer to the bottom it gets less matched. It's understandable since the skirt goes outward to make it full. It also isn't so noticeable. These are things I am fine with, but it does speak to the quality. Since I'm taking about the skirt portion.. It is extremely full and fits my petticoat, but it isn't a full circle skirt as advertised. It's not cut as a circle skirt, which automatically makes it not a circle skirt. It's actually 4 panels. It might be 2 panels because I can't tell if the embroidery came before or after the fabric became a skirt. I'm unsure because the stripes match up on 2 of the seams. Anyways, When I hold up a circle skirt it makes a 180 degree line, but this dress doesn't make it that high. It definitely comes close though! Fitting my petticoat is really all that matters.

Fit

It fits really well. It felt tight whist putting it on, but I think it just fit so exactly. That or they didn't add enough breathing space or I measured incorrectly. I found that the shoulders were actually a little too big. I may have measured myself wrong? That was the measurement I was most unsure of when I took it. This is definitely the hard part about ordering customized clothing online. I know a lot of people don't know how to measure themselves properly. That may actually also include me!

The construction was good. The darting was the best fit I've ever had there. The sticking connecting all the pieces together was solid. It didn't feel like it was going to fall apart anytime soon. The pockets are awesome. They are big enough to hold what I need. I wouldn't need to use a purse sometimes even. They also aren't obvious when worn. I have other items with pockets including a coat and a different dress (not eShakti) change the draping of the fabric that it's obvious if I have something small in my pocket and ridiculous if it's something big. The way these pockets are sown are awesome. I love the customization choices as I really like over the knees lengths which is so hard to find even for a shortie like me. I absolutely hate sitting down and being able to feel the chair. Some dresses are too difficult to resist though. The dress design is also extremely cute, much like most of the other options on the site. They also seem to go through designs pretty often. You'd be hard-pressed to find someone wearing the same dress as you. I do like eShakti and already own a dress and skirt from them. I also just purchased a dress for my mother. I'm excited. I wouldn't count on the fit being completely perfect all the time even though it's a customization website. It is really difficult to do, even designers have multiple fittings before the finished product. I would definitely continue to shop at eShakti purely for the pockets and over the knee-length skirts/dresses. The pretty designs and full skirts are also a big reason too though. I could definitely look past any imperfections for these reasons.